Assembly members voted for additional legal review and to look into hiring new project managers after learning of a surprise bill for nearly $3 million from the contractor in charge of rebuilding the Lutak Dock. At a work session last week and at Tuesday’s assembly meeting, members and the borough’s attorney questioned the validity of […]
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Posted inNews, Local News, Transportation, Haines Borough
Contractor asks Haines for $2.8 million payment for Lutak Dock work ‘without pre-authorization’
Turnagain Marine is asking the Haines Borough for “prompt payment” of $2.8 million in work on the Lutak Dock project that likely won’t be covered by the federal government as expected. The news came from an invoice that was shared with assembly members, ahead of a planned workshop on Wednesday evening about the $25 million […]
Posted inNews, Local News, Business & Commerce, Haines Borough
Appeal for Lutak Road gravel pit fails, setting up legal fight
The Haines Borough Assembly denied Southeast Road Builders’ appeal to get a conditional use permit for a gravel extraction pit on Lutak Road, setting up a possible appeal to state court. The company did not respond to phone calls and email requests for comment. Some assembly members said they thought an appeal to state superior […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Chose scaled-down Lutak option
Dear Haines Community, Including Mayor Morphet, Borough Assembly Members, and Borough Administration: Please choose a scaled-down Lutak Dock alternative 3B that will provide continued freight and fuel service to Haines, without throwing open the door for large-scale ore export. We are tired of over-built infrastructure projects based on predetermined designs in search of after-the-fact justifications. […]
Posted inNews, Local News
Deadline for Lutak Dock project pushed back three years
This story has been updated. A looming deadline to sign a grant agreement for the controversial Lutak Dock project has been pushed back by three years. The news could upend debates about the need to make a quick decision to approve the $25 million project to shore up the aging dock that is the entry […]
Posted inNews, Local News
Southeast Road Builders appeals permit remand for Lutak Road project
Southeast Road Builders is appealing a November assembly decision to add more requirements to a permit to extract and store gravel on Lutak Road. In its appeal, the company argues the assembly overstepped its authority by sending a permit back to the planning commission to rehear. Among other points, the company says the assembly didn’t […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Assembly, scale back the Lutak mega-dock
In Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 silent film Modern Times, he is sucked through the conveyor belt and giant gears of industry. 25 years later Republican President Eisenhower issued the same warning about the military-industrial complex. Today in Haines, public funds still feed gigantic gears of private extractive industry — the Haines Highway, Porcupine/Constantine Road upgrades, Palmer […]
Posted inLocal News, News
Feds won’t allow $10 million steel purchase; are ‘extremely concerned’ borough won’t meet Lutak Dock deadlines
This story has been updated. A representative from the U.S. Transportation Department said he’s “extremely concerned” Haines won’t meet a deadline for completing environmental reviews required to move forward with its $25 million Lutak Dock rebuild project. The news came in a Friday letter from David Bohnet, a grants supervisor for the Transportation Department. He […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Keep Handymax cargo ships out of Lutak
Lutak Dock and the plan we choose for it will affect the sustainability of our food basket of hooligan, salmon, halibut, shrimp, and crab from our local watersheds. The plan we choose will impact whether or not we will have humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, seals, otters, bald eagles, multiple species of migratory birds coming […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Tone down Lutak Dock rhetoric
Let’s tone down the rhetoric. Assembly member Natalie Dawson has a great idea — let’s plan discussions about the challenges that we are faced with. Is the freight dock an ore terminal? Are environmentalists the only folks that speak the truth? Should we fear multinational corporations like DOWA or Patagonia? Let’s do what assembly member […]